The present invention relates to tapes and adhesives and, more particularly, to adhesive tape used for cosmetic purposes.
A cutaway drawing through the upper eyelid is shown in FIG. 1. The upper eyelid, generally indicated as 10, moves down over the eyeball 12 when the eyes are closed, and retracts over the cornea 14 to expose the iris 16 and pupilary opening 18 when the eye is open. The skin of the upper eyelid 10 along the ciliary margin 20 is held relatively rigid by a thin strip of cartilage known as the tarsal plate 22. The skin above the ciliary margin 20 is thin and supple and tends to fold at what is referred to as the supra tarsal fold 24.
Particularly as part of the natural aging process, the skin of the upper eyelid can sag or droop into positions such as those shown ghosted and labelled 26 in FIG. 1. The result is a bagging or festooning of the upper eyelid as shown in FIG. 2. A similar condition occurs naturally in the eyes of many persons of Oriental extraction due to a difference in eye physiology.
When the natural or developed droop reaches the lower ghosted position 26 of FIG. 1 adjacent the eyelashes 28, several things can happen. First, the actual vision above the horizontal can be affected. That is, merely rotating the eyeball 12 in an upward direction does not provide a view in that direction since the line of vision is covered by the drooped portion 26 of the eyelid 10. Even without the reduced vision, the natural puffiness and droop in the non-Oriental eye tends to make the associated eye (and, therefore, the person) look older. Additionally, in women, it can interfere with the application of eye makeup.
Statistically, there are at least 44 million women over the age of 40 in the United States alone. It can be assumed that a drooping condition such as that shown in FIG. 2 is of some bother to at least a substantial portion of them. The condition can be corrected surgically in the manner shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. And, in fact, several hundred thousand people a year have the procedure shown therein performed to alleviate the condition. As shown in FIG. 3, a strip 30 of the upper eyelid 10 is surgically removed along with some of the fat beneath the strip 30. The sides of the wound are then sutured together as shown in FIG. 4, thus removing a portion of the excess skin above the upper eyelid 10 thereby removing the droop as shown in FIG. 2. Such a procedure is referred to as an upper blepharoplasty.
The above-described procedure is neither inconsequential nor inexpensive. For most of the persons afflicted with drooping eyes such as that shown in FIG. 2, the condition remains one of annoyance either due to lack of funds for the surgery or a lack of desire or willingness to have the surgery itself.
Wherefore, it is the object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for providing a non-surgical method for affecting a temporary pseudo upper blepharoplasty.